FIGURE 6.

Circulating TNF‐α levels increase in stroke patients and correlate with clinical outcome. A, Circulating levels of TNF‐α 6 h after stroke onset increase significantly in stroke patients compared to healthy age‐ and sex‐matched controls. A similar trend although not significant is observed for levels of this cytokine 24 h after the stroke (n = 18‐23 patients). B, Ischaemic stroke patients show a linear correlation between TNF‐α levels and short‐term neurological outcome as assessed by the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) (n = 16 patients). C, Healthy controls show no correlation between plasma TNF‐α and age. In contrast, TNF‐α levels at 6 D and 24 h E, after symptom onset correlate with age in patients with ischaemic stroke. A: one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey's post hoc test, B‐E: Pearson (r) correlation. *P <.05. NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; TNF, tumour necrosis factor